Iran denies steep plunge in oil exports

October 13, 2012|Reuters

DUBAI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Iran's oil exports have remainedsteady in recent months, Iran's OPEC governor said on Saturday,denying a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) thatIran is struggling to arrest a decline in its oil sales.

In a report on Friday, the IEA estimated Iran's exportsfalling to a new low of 860,000 barrels per day (bpd) inSeptember, a huge plunge from 2.2 million bpd at the end of2011.

The drop in Iranian supply is supporting oil prices andhurting Tehran's revenues, deepening hardship for a populationdeprived of basic imports and adding to pressure on thegovernment over its nuclear programme.

"Iran's oil exports are the same as previous months and thesituation is stable," Khatibi was quoted as saying by theIranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) on Saturday.

Khatibi also denied that the only buyers of Iranian oil wereChina, India, South Korea, Japan, and Turkey.

"The market for Iranian oil is beyond the mentionedcountries...We are always exploring new markets but we don'tpublicise them much because it may be detrimental," Khatibi saidwithout elaborating.

The United States and its allies are pressing Tehran to giveup its disputed nuclear programme by choking off oil revenues,which provide the vast majority of Iran's hard currencyearnings. Iran says the programme is for peaceful purposes.

The European Union banned Iranian crude from July 1 andother countries have cut purchases in response to tighter U.S.sanctions. The EU ban prevents EU insurance firms from coveringIran's exports, hindering imports by some non-EU buyers.

On Friday, the European Union provisionally approved newsanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, with seniordiplomats giving their backing to measures against Tehran'sbanking sector and industry.